Marvin Gaye What's Going On

What’s going on is one of the songs that came out of the Vietnam War era in the 1970s that will carry on into the future. If each era and generation had a sound track What’s Going On would be in close competition with John Lennon’s Imagine for track one. This song would forever redefine how the world saw Marvin Gaye, previously known for love songs and his huge hits and success with Tammi Terrell. Though Marvin himself did not write the song, being written by Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Al Clevelend, it came along at a perfect time in Marvins life. He was dealing with the recent death of Tammi Terrell, and the return of his brother from the Vietnam War. His brother conveyed to Marvin the tragedies and acts of horror from the war, this changed Marvin and made him feel that he could play his part in helping to bring change through his music.

Though he did not write the record, he made it his own, by adding and changing lyrics, and changing the style of the song. For the percussion of the song he did not want the typical Motown sound so he brought in a big band drummer to give it a different sound. The famous introduction Sax was a rough take recording unknowingly by Eli Fontaine while he was warming up. The vocal quality is also accidental it is a mix of two separate takes from Marvin played at the same time.

The label was uninterested in releasing the single. In fact Berry Gordy the label founder and brother in law of Marvin said it was one of the worst things he’s ever heard. The single eventually got released with out Berry Gordy’s permission; Berry was proven wrong as the song went on to be a tremendous hit selling 100,000 copies in one day. The album went on to sell albums and become one of Marvin and Motown’s biggest hits. To me What’s Going on is a phenomenal record that is easily seen as being a huge influence on many artists from that point forward.